Xbox One retail units acting as development kits still ‘in the roadmap,’ not a priority
It’s been over a year since Microsoft first announced plans to help democratize game development on Xbox One. The plan at the time was to enable retail units to double as development kits. The effect of that move is twofold: it brings down the cost of dev kits (which are often thousands of dollars), and it opens up the possibility of console game development to a much broader audience. College students, for instance.
The functionality was said to arrive not long after last November’s Xbox One launch. Over a year later, that functionality still hasn’t hit the Xbox One. Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, says it’s still in the cards. When, however, is still unknown.
“I know, I know, I know,” Spencer told us in an interview this week at Gamescom, the annual gigantic game show in Cologne, Germany. “I don’t love that it was a year ago that we talked about it here and it’s still not available.” He said it’s still “in the roadmap,” but there are a variety of priorities ahead of it. Those priorities, he said, are driven by developers’ requests.
“There’s been such a great response to [the Xbox indies program] that the request from the community so far hasn’t been the retail-to-dev kits,” Spencer said. That program, dubbed “ID@Xbox,” offers developers two free dev kits and direct access to Microsoft’s console support staff. Indies can harness all the same bells and whistles on the Xbox One that the big studios can. All that said, the ability to turn retail Xbox One consoles into development kits took the indie program another full step up: anyone could become a console game developer.
“I just want to listen and take the feedback and not just do something because I wanna go do it,” Spencer said. In so many words, Spencer doesn’t want his team to spend resources (time/money/etc.) delivering a service that developers aren’t asking for. “I wanna do something because the consumer — developers in this case — get what they’re asking for.”
At the same time, this initiative wouldn’t impact existing devs as much as it would impact students and the general public. We can’t know who’s upset that this doesn’t exist yet because the folks who would use it may not even know they want to develop games just yet. Perhaps they’d be inclined if their Xbox One would assist in the process. For now, though, it sounds like we’re depending on the ID@Xbox program for indies on Xbox One.
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HTC’s Zoe app is a social network that uses highlight reels
HTC’s days of acting like a wallflower at the school dance are over — the company’s ready to explore its social side. Its first attempt is to turn Zoe, one of its most creative software features, into a social network that not only lets you share photos and videos with your friends, but allows them to pitch in and edit them as well. Known simply as the Zoe app, the new program launches in open beta today and will be available on several Samsung, LG and other Google devices. Finally, HTC is looking outside of its own user base and reaching out to those who may never have touched any of its products before.
The Zoe app was created by a new HTC division called Creative Labs, which is led by Sense UI head Drew Bamford. It’s the first of several projects the team has in the works, and is the only publicly known project so far. The app has been in limbo as a mere placeholder for the last five months, and the service won’t graduate to final status until sometime this fall.
It’s a logical step for Zoe, which started out as a photography feature on the HTC One M7. Named after an old-fashioned zoetrope which spun around and around to create a short movie, the feature fit the description. It recorded a few seconds of video and a burst of 20 images and turned it into a Harry Potter-esque moving picture. This breathed life into photo galleries and added flash to Video Highlights, a feature which stitched up to 16 Zoes, stills and video clips of your choice and mashed them into a cool 30-second highlight montage. These reels are set to whatever music you want and you can even select one of several different themes to ensure each reel portrays the right mood. They’re both utilized in the new app, and are certainly more entertaining than the traditional family vacation slideshow.
As neat as Zoe and Video Highlights were, there wasn’t much you could do with them aside from uploading them to YouTube or generating a unique URL to show off your content. To share a prized reel with friends and family required effort and, unless loved ones subscribed to (and actively visited) your YouTube account, an easier way for them to view your stuff. You don’t have to worry about this when using Facebook and Instagram; take a picture, do a bit of editing and within seconds your memory will be uploaded and viewed by everyone you’ve ever known.
The Zoe app isn’t quite that quick and easy yet, but it’s definitely an improvement over how it was before. Just like other social networks, there’s a feed comprised of your followers, as well as a “discover” feed in case you want to explore a bit (although there’s no way to specific searches for people or topics). You find friends using your Google or Facebook account, but unfortunately there isn’t a way to search for specific people who may not be in your personal rolodex. (HTC says it’ll be included in the final release.) Similar to Instagram, your feed is a vertically scrolling page that consists of your friends’ montages, and you can like or comment on each one.
So far it sounds like your average social network but with 30-second highlight reels instead of pictures or 15-second videos. One unique benefit to Zoe, however, is the ability to collaborate and edit any montage you want by “remixing” it. The app grabs all of the shots used in that clip and gives you the chance to remove whichever ones you want and add a few photos of your own, change the theme and the music, and presto — you’ve just remixed your friend’s vacation reel. Of course, you can even do it to your own clips, and remixing can be as simple as rearranging the order in which those shots are displayed in the clip, so it’s up to you to determine how deep you want to dive into the editing process.
I haven’t decided yet if this is really cool or really creepy; perhaps it’s a little bit of both. Say you go on a trip with friends and you want to pool your photos and videos together to make an epic montage. Done. It’s so much easier to do it this way than getting them all onto the same desktop computer and sideloading them into one HTC device. Now, it’s all cloud-based. It even works if you use more than one phone (or hopefully a tablet, once Zoe is out of beta) and you want to bundle two different albums together. On the creepy side, there’s something weird about the idea of a follower doing whatever they want with my own content. At least HTC has safety measures in place, should you choose to use them: If you only want certain folks seeing and editing your clips, you can add them to a whitelist so only they can see it.
Finally, when you’re done picking out the pictures and videos you want, selecting the right theme and song to go with it (you can use your own tunes and select whatever 30-second segment you want) and you’re ready to send it off, you have the choice of making it public or private, inviting specific people to do a remix or sharing it as a URL through other apps (Gmail, messaging, Twitter and so on).
I’m impressed with the app so far, even though there’s plenty of room for improvement and more features (it’s only in beta, after all). But I’m happy to see a once-exclusive HTC feature now spreading its wings to other Android devices. It gives HTC more exposure to people who normally choose other phone brands, not to mention that it stands a more realistic chance of attracting a decent number of active users. There are two challenges that Zoe will need to address. First is the massive popularity of other social networks; HTC may not be trying to compete with Instagram and others on a direct level, but most people don’t want to add yet another social network to their already large arsenal. The other challenge is visibility: Will Zoe get top billing (or anywhere close to the top) on the Google Play Store? That alone could be a make-or-break factor for HTC’s success.
The beta program will roll out today to several devices, including any device with HTC Sense 6, as well as the Nexus 5, LG G2 and G2 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5 and Note 3. According to HTC, Zoe should be compatible with Android 4.4 smartphones when it leaves beta this fall.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, HTC
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Berlin bans Uber to protect passengers and its taxis
It’s safe to say that Uber has become a victim of its own success, provoking the ire of the global taxi industry and also its fellow ridesharing competitors. While it’s enjoyed some leniency in the US, European regulators have put the boot into the app, with Berlin becoming the latest city to ban Uber cars from its roads. In a statement, Berlin’s State Department of Civil and Regulatory Affairs said that Uber puts passenger safety at risk by using “unverified drivers in unlicensed vehicles,” and threatened to levy a €25,000 ($33,400) fine each time it violates the ban. Drivers won’t escape action either, receiving €20,000 ($26,750) fine if they’re caught pursuing passengers.
Given the rise of unlicensed taxis in European cities, Berlin’s ruling does address a legitimate concern. However, the state department has acknowledged that the “protection of the taxi industry” was also a key factor in its decision. Uber says it intends to challenge the ban and has vowed to continue operating while it contests the ban in court. It’s not all doom and gloom for the company, however: by bringing the case before a judge, Uber can seek a review of antiquated taxi laws, allowing it to operate freely if it gets the ruling overturned.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: BBC News
Source: Berlin State Department
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Motorola hosting launch event on September 4
Motorola looks to be unveiling a number of products at a September 4 press event, or at least that’s what we’re gathering from the early invitation. Clicking on an email we received this morning we are brought to a website that features one of those fun fortune teller paper games. You have to watch closely but… Read more »
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Hurry, your next Uber in NYC could be all about Manchester United
Look, there aren’t many things which can truly impress New Yorkers. Yet, somehow, the Mini Countryman pictured above managed to make quite a few heads turn during a drive across Manhattan. Whatever it may have been, it’s safe to bet those bright red colors draping the car had something to do with it — and the not-so-subtle branding didn’t hurt its chances to impress, either. Regardless, this Manchester United-themed vehicle is part of a full fleet of 20 vehicles, one for each Premier League team, that NBC Sports and Uber will have cruising around Manhattan through this Sunday. The free rides (up to a 30-minute drive) are obviously being used as a way to promote the start of the EPL season on NBC Sports Network here in the US, which kicks off on Saturday, August 16th. Uber, for its part, isn’t new to having bizarre rides hit the streets, like the time-traveling DeLorean and, of course, those beloved Ice Cream trucks. Now we can add this one to the list.
We had a chance to take a ride along and experience, in our case, a Manchester United Mini Cooper. To make the adventure more immersive, NBC Sports and Uber put an iPad on the cars’ backseat, which is used to test your soccer knowledge with a three-question quiz — better yet, you’ll have the chance to win tickets to attend a Premier League match this season. What’s more, the driver also gives you an EPL-branded rubbery cardholder, in case you’re into that sort of stuff. The entire thing was a little underwhelming overall, so don’t expect to get your mind blown by any means. Still, assuming you’re in Manhattan, you can get a free ride and hopefully be lucky enough to get a Countryman that’s sporting the colors and logos from your favorite team. Details on the promo code and timing can be found below.
Fans can find the Premier League Uber rides [promo code: BPLonNBC] in Manhattan at the following times:
o Thursday, August 14 from 3:00 pm – 10:00 pm
o Friday, August 15 from 3:00 pm – 10:00 pm
o Saturday, August 16 from 6:45 am – 2:00 pm
o Sunday, August 17 from 7:30 am – 2:30 pm
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Vimeo’s video app gets a major facelift on Roku
Discovery features are becoming the norm among video and music applications. Vimeo, naturally, has been taking note of this and is now introducing a redesigned app for Roku streaming devices. Along with making it simpler for viewers to find fresh content on its homepage, Vimeo’s new application also lets Roku users get smarter search results and have easier access to their personalized feeds — such as Incoming, Likes, My Videos and Watch Later. The online video company says this was all done with the future in mind, too; the application is setup to support in-app purchasing for the Vimeo On Demand service, which will soon allow creators to charge for productions directly from any Roku. Vimeo on Roku definitely looks much prettier than it did before, let’s just hope those looks match its overall performance.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Vimeo
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Humin adds context to your contacts for a smarter smartphone
Our phones have changed so much since the early days of the smartphone. We can now take amazing photos with them, play video games on them, track our health and fitness on them and of course use them to surf the internet. But the humble contacts app — you know, the thing that stores all those phone numbers — hasn’t changed much, if at all. For one thing, it still lists all those contacts alphabetically. That works if you’ve got a great memory, but what if you want to find that person you met at a party last week and can’t quite recall their name? A normal contacts list would be useless. Launched on the App Store today, Humin plans to change all that, not only by replacing your contacts app but by replacing your phone app as well.
Humin aims to do so by adding one key ingredient to contacts: context. Instead of just looking up your contacts by name, for example, Humin lets you look them up by relationship or employer or the time and place you met them. So if I wanted to find that person I met last week, I’d enter in “met last week” in the search field and voila, I’d be able to find him or her much easier. And if that party was on my calendar, I could say something like “met at last week’s party,” and it’d narrow the search down even further.
“The problem we needed to solve wasn’t the contacts problem,” says Ankur Jain, Humin’s co-founder and CEO. “It was the search problem.” He recalled the internet of the late 90s, where sites like Yahoo and Lycos tried to alphabetize the web in lists and categories. Then search engines like Google came along and you could finally search for things the way our brains actually think. “We’re taking that concept and applying it to people.”
Here’s how it works. When you first launch the app, it’ll ask to hook up to your phone’s contacts and your calendar. You can stop there, but in order for Humin to really flex its contextual muscle, you’re encouraged to connect Humin to Facebook and your email account as well (either your Gmail or your Exchange account will do). It’ll also ask for your LinkedIn info if you have it, which is especially useful if you use your phone for doing business. This is how it gathers data like the people you know in common, their occupations and how frequently they contact you.
And if you really want Humin to replace your phone app entirely, you can. If you go through a few activation steps, you can have it so that all of your missed calls and voicemails will go to Humin. Jain tells us they’ve actually worked with all the major US carriers to develop this technology. “In order for Humin to really have an impact on your everyday life, it has to be one of the core services that you use on an everyday basis,” says Jain as a reason behind the integration.
To be honest, it all feels rather invasive, but Jain assures us that privacy is of the utmost importance. “We keep all of that data on your phone locally … your email never goes to our servers.” As an experiment, Jain encouraged us to use Humin with Airplane mode on, and indeed, it still managed to do those contextual searches without any connectivity (Of course, this was after we had already fleshed out our all contacts with info gained from Facebook, LinkedIn etc.). Further, the app won’t contact anyone unless you want it to. Which, by the way, you might actually want if you’d like your contacts to have the most updated info. To do so, you can send a verification request to a contact via the app itself.
After you’ve incorporated all that information, Humin really comes into its own. The main Contacts tab, for example, will show all of the contacts who are in the same city you are, as well as the folks who are in your upcoming calendar meeting. This is potentially useful if you’re travelling — if I fly to New York, it’ll immediately show all the people I know who are in the New York area so that I can instantly send off a quick text to them to let them I know I’m in town. Also, whenever I add a new contact to Humin from now on, it’ll remember when and where I met them, and it’ll automatically add in the person’s name if it’s associated elsewhere. For example, when I entered Jain’s phone number into Humin, it automatically added his name and the ten people we know in common.
The app also automatically surfaces the people you’re most likely to add to your Favorites list by seeing how frequently you interact and their relationship to you. For me, my co-workers and friends were at the top of the pile, followed closely by family members, which makes sense because most of my communications with family are offline rather than online. In order to quickly call or text one of your Favorites, you hold down on their image and either swipe left or right.
Still, if Humin sounds intriguing to you, iPhone users can go ahead and download the app right now. It’s US-only for now but it should arrive in UK stores shortly. Android users will have to wait a few more weeks, and we even hear that Google Glass might get it at some point.
“One of our goals is to put technology into the background of your life,” says Jain. “The phone app is the most background app that you have … we want you to keep that existing user behavior but bring it to the 21st century.”
Source: App Store
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Motorola will unveil new smartphones and the Moto 360 on September 4th
With Samsung’s Note 4 announcement on September 3rd and Apple’s iPhone launch expected a few days later, September is shaping up to be a busy month when it comes to smartphone (and wearable) unveils. Motorola’s just sent out invitations for its own launch in Chicago, scheduled for the day after Samsung’s big event in Berlin. Of course, we don’t know exactly what to expect, but given the “choose your own adventure” invite, it looks like two smartphones (perhaps the X+1 and a new G model), Moto 360 and an in-ear wearable (Bluetooth headset?) are on order.
Filed under: Cellphones
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Huawei offers sneak peek at EMUI 3.0
Huawei, in anticipation of new product launches at IFA next month, has begun offering an early look at its upcoming user interface. Called EMUI 3.0, it employs a “circle pattern throughout the UI for a more consistent look and feel”. Based on what we’re seeing here we have to say we like the changes. It’s… Read more »
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LG G Watch: One Month Reveiw
The LG G watch is one of the first products introduced with Android Wear. One month in and its starting to show what Google has intended for wearable devices. The smart watch is not intended to replace you phone or tablet, instead it is intended to replace your watch. Google has made this clear… Read more »
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AIVAnet 